The present invention relates generally to a box pleat structured curtain. More specifically, the present invention relates to a curtain wherein the top of the panel is formed using grommets in a manner that assists is structuring the top of the curtain into a box pleat form.
Curtains and draperies are normally supported from a curtain rod using drapery hardware. For example clip rings are well known drapery hardware used for hanging drapery and curtains. A clip ring generally comprises a simple ring with a clip extending therefrom. The ring is arranged to fit around a drapery rod such that it is easily slidable along the length thereof. The clip is arranged to hang below the rod and securely grip a portion of the fabric of the drapery.
Generally, a plurality of clip rings, arranged in succession along the length of the rod, is used to hang the drapery. As the clip rings are easily slidable along the rod, a user may easily position the drapery hanging therefrom at desired locations along the rod. When the drapery is gathered together, its fabric tends to bunch and fold, especially near the upper portion of its fabric where the clip rings are gripping it. Consequently, drapery is often provided with pleats in order to provide an aesthetically pleasing means for gathering the bunched and folded fabric.
Pleats or pleat assemblies are generally made by forming a sharply defined fold or group of several closely spaced folds in the heading, and preserving the folds by sewing or other means. A multitude of such pleats are uniformly spaced along the heading. The size of the folds of the pleats and their spacing is generally such as to produce a pleated heading having about half the length of the initial unpleated heading. The drapery supporting hooks, usually S-shaped wires pointed at one end, generally engage the rear of the pleats.
Several well-known types of pleats are recognized, such as the pinch, box and cartridge styles, each fabricated by a specialized method and having a distinct appearance. For example, a pinch pleat, also known as a French pleat, is made by first forming a vertically oriented loop protruding toward the face of the drape and extending the height of the heading. The loop is then sewn closed at its base and fashioned into three smaller loops or folds by gathering and shaping the protruding fabric and pushing it back toward the rear of the drapery. The center loop, at its rear-most extremity, is bounded by two bends, sometimes referred to as bights. The three loops are joined or pinched together by sewing in a direction perpendicular to the face of the drape just below the heading, forming a seam, generally called a bar tacking, which stabilizes the folded structure. Because the center loop is not attached at its bottom, and the three loops are secured laterally at one point, the appearance is that of three loops beginning at the top of the drapery, converging just below the heading, and diverging and leading into the undulations of the body of the drapery. Although the bights are sharply defined near the bar tacking, they are diffuse near the upper portion of the heading.
A box pleat is made by initially forming a vertically sewn loop, as in the case of the pinch pleat. The loop is then flattened against the heading, as by pressing, and the top and bottom portions of the flattened loop are horizontally sewn to the heading. A cartridge pleat is similar to a box pleat, but instead of being flattened, the loop remains in its full, protruding configuration.
The use of sewing techniques in fabricating pleats is slow and costly. Also, in the case of large pleats, sewing does not provide adequate stiffness for shape retention. Faster techniques for making pleats are desirable, and may involve stamping-type operations whereby a pleat-making means repeatedly acts upon the heading of a drapery run horizontally past the pleat-making unit. In order, however, for a pleat to be amenable to fabrication by fast automated methods such as a stamping technique, special innovations must be made in the design of the pleat itself. For example, pinch pleats containing a bar tacking are not readily amenable to fabrication by a simple stamping method.
In the prior art, pleated window treatments have been hung on support rods by the means of metal hooks that have one end shaped to engage a support rod and the other end affixed to a reinforcing band of material that is affixed to the upper edge of the pleated window treatment. The metal hooks have been attached to reinforcing band of material by the insertion of a sharpened end of the metal hook or by being sewn or fixed to the band of material by a suitable fastener.
The applicant has devised a means of structuring a box pleated window treatment which avoids the need to use metal hooks or a reinforcing band of material as a mounting means on the upper inside part of the pleated window treatment for the purpose of receiving metal hooks that are used to engage a rod.
Thus, there is a need for a means for forming and maintaining pleats in the fabric of drapery that is not time-consuming, arduous, nor requires specialized skill and knowledge. There is also a need for such a means that does not require sewing or otherwise permanently altering the fabric of the drapery.